'OZone Email Newsletter for March, 2011

What a celebration this year's Mardi Gras has been for WWOZ! And there are so many other great things in store for the station. But after all this joyous celebration, a proverbial Lent and ashes.

Right in the middle of all the good stuff happening for 'OZ, the House of Representatives passed legislation eliminating all funding for public radio. While we won't be going off the air tomorrow, this translates into a $300,000 loss for WWOZ - our annual grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - or roughly 8% of our yearly operating budget. We've already been cut back by $50,000, and next year, OZ's share will be reduced by an even larger amount.

We don't know if the Senate will ratify the current defunding of public radio, but we are painfully aware that we'd better not wait to see if things are going to work out (Remember Katrina?).

So, here is what I'm asking:

1. Contact (Really! Right this moment!) your Senators and Representatives through letters, e-mails and phone calls telling them your feelings about these cutbacks. The article that follows in this edition of 'Ozone provides more details about the importance of federal funding to WWOZ and all stations.

2. Pledge as generously as possible during our upcoming Membership Drive. All of the 'OZ nation needs to step up immediately and make a contribution. Membership support already makes up the largest slice of our funding pie but now more than ever we need every listener to give.

WWOZ will continue to be WWOZ, as it has for the past 30 years, as long as our listeners continue to fund and support the programming they've come to count on.

WWOZ partied down throughout the Carnival season and we've got the pictures to show for it. If you didn't get enough Mardi Gras, or if you didn't make it to New Orleans this season, check out our articles about some of our favorite radio personalities in Mardi Gras and the photo galleries from the Bacchus, Muses and Zulu parades.

Congressional funding for public broadcasting is on the chopping block, and it is up to listeners like you to tell Congress that the public radio and television that you love is not a budget cut you're willing to take! At WWOZ and at most stations, membership is our largest source of support, but we would potentially face significant cuts to the services we provide without federal funding.

So 'OZilians: From New Orleans and Louisiana, from the United States, and all of Planet Earth (and the Universe) put on your letter writing hats and stand up and be counted. The folks at 170 Million Americans For Public Broadcasting have set up an easy way to contact your U.S. Senator, but we are pretty sure that calling their offices and turning up WWOZ in the background is just as good a way to get in touch.

This year's French Quarter Fest expands with an extra day, for an entire four full days of live music. The French Quarter Fest is the largest free music festival in the South, and it takes over the entire Quarter April 7-10. This is the perfect opportunity to see scores of the best acts the Crescent City has to offer, all in one location. Throw in food from places like Dickie Brennan's, Boucherie and Crabby Jack's, and we promise it’ll be a (long) weekend to remember.

Whether you bought your Brass Pass sometime last year or you're about to during our Spring Drive, you’re probably anxious to get your hands on it. We’ll be setting up shop at French Quarter Fest in Latrobe Park (near the entrance to the French Market) April 7-10, at the Whole Foods in Metairie on April 16th and the Whole Foods Arabella Station Uptown on April 17, so you can come and claim your fancy slab 'o brass to Jazz Fest and the ‘OZ Hospitality Tent in person. You can also pick your Brass Pass up at WWOZ on April 26-28, or at the Will Call Booth during the Fest.

Each year on the Monday night between the two weekends of Jazz Fest, New Orleans' best piano players and special guests tickle the ivories to benefit WWOZ at Piano Night. Get your tickets now to Piano Night on May 2, and keep up with our Piano Night page, as we'll be releasing the line up in the upcoming weeks.

The Greater New Orleans Pedestrian & Bicycle Program, in partnership with the Louisiana Public Health Institute, will be educating pedestrians and motorists about safety while sharing the streets. The campaign reaches out to pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists so that everyone can be safer when they take it to the streets.

Courtesy of Chef Paul Prudhomme, here is one of the dishes that put Louisiana, Creole and Cajun cooking on the map back at the 1984 Worlds Fair in New Orleans. Featured in an article on the popularity and history of Louisiana foodways, this dish is a standard in the repetoire that's worth learning to do right. If you like the recipe, then check out Louisiana Cookin' magazine. Subscribe with the promotion code wwoz2011, and they'll donate $5 to WWOZ.